Is there a god?

[rickthestick2]

To Schopenhauer:

Writing a critique of the bible does not at all mean that I want a fight. In fact I think that it means that I take the bible very seriously, perhaps more than most. When it says something I would like to know if it is true or not. There is no reason to feel threatened if the Bible is "attacked", if it is true then you should have no fears. If it is false, then its time to take out our erasers and red pens. However it is impossible to be "by the book" about the bible as you state. The book itself has different messages and is very hard even for scholars to interpret.  The bible will always be your interpretation of it, mixed with how much context and facts surrounding it you understand. You obviously dont believe in old testament morality, and much of the other regular insanity that the ancient Jews engaged in. Again let me say, a literal interpretation of the bible is not very helpful or productive. But as you said, enough of this.

 I'm sorry i ever caused this arguement, but before it closes i want you to understand that its not i feel threatened by anything, but i don't like accusations without examples. And Schopenhauer, your first post was filled with accusations without examples. Also, you're kind of right about my values about the Old Testament. I don't value the Old Testament much simply because i'm not a Jew, but i do, in a sense, follow all the laws of the Old Testament. People must realize that the Christ has come and gone, and the New Testament is established. Whatever, i'm sorry for this problem between me and you.

 However concider this; the core of Christianity is the resurrection. Suppose that you discover a god but this god will not raise you from the dead, will not create a heaven or a hell, but just sits and watches strange sacks of mostly water debate on what books he wrote all day long. When you die, you are dead. However it is a very loving god and loves all humanity. How compelling would this god be? I would think not very to a great deal of people. In our vision of the world, God is compelling because he commands and promises. This we find in our books. These promises cannot be intuited alone.

But a God who is not proven in all things is not God at all. What God would not instill in all his creation his own mark of Creation? Throughout humanity, people have realized there is a God not only because they don't understand why certain things happen, but because the whole concept of the Universe is void without something Divine. The Love of Jesus Christ however is spread by Faith. The reason why Jesus had his disiples and why he called upon Saul/Paul is because a Christian is given to the world the continue God's plan. So yes, Jesus Christ is the way, but what of before Christ? What of theose who have not yet heard of the Christ? Are they utterly damned to Hell? No, because God doesn't work that way. He loves all men and salvation for them is given through Christ but not by the way of the book.

 However I will repeat, God or No God, it makes no difference if we dont have anything more to go on than just that.  It would be nice to assume that we can get in touch with god just by being good, but we dont really know that either do we? At least not without some kind of authority or philosophy to tell us why this should be so. In fact all evidence suggests that we really have a hard time getting in contact with this being or it helping us know what to do all by ourselves. This is evidenced by the fact that the world is 95% suffering, 3%boredom, and 2%Happiness.  Or perhaps this is evidence that we are in touch with our creator, its just that our creator was actually cruel and evil. Why assume that god wants life and goodness? It could easily want death and immorality. Gnostics thought that an evil being made the world...

First I want to say men don't get in touch with God for being "good". Now about getting in contact with God, this too me is a foolish point. It is because people don't believe they can get in touch with God or that they don't believe in God or that people don't know what to do if they were in touch with God. It is because of Jesus Christ that humans have the gift of prayer. Everyone can get in touch with God, so i have trouble understanding your point. And please, do not blaspheme the spirit of God. That is a sin that Jesus says is unforgivible (if one truly believed in thier hearts that God is an evil spirit)

To Techmobowl: 

I'm sorry, are you saying that Science should replace all Religion? Because if you are, that really makes no sense whatsoever. Science cannot replace Religion, because the purposes and goals for each are very different.

Oh, and thanks to religion and Faith, Human beings have morality, reason, and laws. Did Science bring that? (I have nothing against science mind you). And about gaining new understanding, I don't like your view on this. Do you believe that in the next generation humans will just generally get smarter? Well i don't. To gain higher understanding of things, people need to think. Think beyond what they see they need to think beyond the universe and they should challenge everything they know and everything they believe in. Understanding doesn't come through time, understanding comes through thinking.